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Sunday, October 18, 2015

Property Tax Assessment On Joe Hogsett's Home Cut 33%!

I don't know about other Indianapolis residents, but the property tax assessments on my residence has been trending up in each of the past three assessment cycles. The property tax assessment on the Washington Township home of Joe Hogsett, the Democratic candidate for mayor, just got reduced by 33%. Are property values on East 82nd Street on the city's far north side actually declining? It does not appear that Hogsett even had to file an appeal to get the assessed value of his home reduced from $338,100 to $226,700. I'm wondering if those taxpayer savings Hogsett is promising in his campaign commercials will net the rest of us a one-third cut in our property taxes.

UPDATE: I had to share Hogsett's Twitter post tonight showing off his luxury suite view of tonight's Colts-Patriots game while falsely claiming he took on the rule-breakers as federal prosecutor. Au-contraire, Joe. Name one corrupt politician you put in prison, Joe? Lincoln Plowman doesn't count. He was indicted before you became federal prosecutor. And you didn't have anything to do with the prosecution of Ponzi schemer Tim Durham because you had a conflict of interest. You let Carl Brizzi and many others walk. He has also committed to enforcing the Blue Indy and Vision Fleet contracts that Mayor Ballard illegally executed. So much for taking care of rule-breakers, Joe.

As federal prosecutor, I got to take on and defeat rule-breakers. Now it's your turn, Andrew. Go Colts! -- Joe pic.twitter.com/CW9phvHCnV

Not that it will come as a surprise, but both Hogsett and his Republican opponent have committed to supporting continued subsidies to the Pacers and the Colts. Why wouldn't he? He's pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the billionaire owners, their lobbyists and attorneys. He also plans to support public subsidies to build a new stadium for the Indy Eleven. He will deny he has already taken a position on the issue, but his campaign manager, a big Indy Eleven fan, knows otherwise. Why do you think Hogsett declined prosecution of the misuse of those federal grant dollars by the Ballard administration that benefited the Indy Eleven's owner?

I just checked eight or so of Hogsett's neighbors using Indianapolis' map service at http://maps.indy.gov/MapIndy/. I think all but one had reductions of a similar percentage. The fact that most neighbors also got reduced suggests the reductions are based on the downward "trending" based on sales data for the relevant time period. To confirm this would take much more time than I want to invest. Seeing the neighbors' reductions gives me confidence Hogsett's reduction was nothing unusual or underhanded. For those of you who don't know or don't remember, I am the former Marion County Assessor.

There were a lot of downward adjustments following the implosion of the housing market in 2008 because of reduced market values; however, that trend reversed at least in the better neighborhoods as selling prices rebounded back to where they were prior to the housing bubble bursting. His house is not in a distressed neighborhood by any stretch of the imagination. Houses in those neighborhoods are selling almost as fast as they hit the market, and sellers are getting their asking price or very close to it. It seems hard to believe that houses in that neighborhood were over-assessed 7 years out from the housing crash.

Marion County is in the death spiral so in one sense it isn't all that surprising that Boss Hog's house is worth less. That said, most assessors I know do not use market data to adjust values downward. I suspect this is politically motivated and that Boss Hog's neighbors are riding his coattails. Who is really surprised by this? It's business as usual in Indy. I'm sure Boss Hog will line up at the trough and gorge himself, just like all of his predecessors all the way back to Saint Hudnut. This is Indy. This is what we are.

One of the things I would like to see is a map of property tax parcels color coded as follows: Green = Paying full tax on full assessment, Blue = Paying tax on at least 75% but less than 100% of full assessment, Yellow = Paying less than 75% but more than 50%, Orange = paying less than 50% but more than 25%, Red = paying less than 25%. What kind of picture would that paint of the city and what sort of metaphor is that tax structure for the whole of who pays vs who gets services. I think it would make for months if not years worth of good discussion.

Bravo to Gary (10:41) and Anon (10:45)- yes, the liberal Democrats rarely want the unclean masses to know how well they actually live!!! They want you to believe they are "one of us" when nothing could be further from the truth.

And they mocked ME when I began using the term "Lying Joe". Vindicated, I'd say. And by none other than Joe Hogsett.

I would like to know if the house Hogsett actually lives in is the modest one he mows in his commercials. I assumed when watching the ad that he and his wife were filmed in front of their actual home and smelling his actual shoes. But if his house has been assessed at more than 300k it can't be the house in the ad. Are we being deceived into believing that Hogsett lives in an average house and drives a modest car?

This entire election is nothing but a fraud on the people of this city. There's no real media left to honestly report on anything about these candidates. The fact checkers at the TV stations don't care how dishonest campaign ads are as long as the candidate's campaign committee is paying their bill.

This so called assessment system is corrupt by design; theft by obscurities of trending, assessed vs actual sale value, year after year appeals while citizens are forced to pay overcharges, etc. Nothing good comes of corruption; the only "product" of which is expanded / more corruption.

Yes Gary (6:54 and 8:22), yes, yes, yes. Against everything I've been taught and hold dear about civic responsibility, I adamantly refuse to again be a part of the sham termed "casting the private ballot." The civic responsibility I was taught has been abrogated by the system where we see corrupt, insider, privileged deals from the dirty Solyndra scam to Vision Fleet and the infamous Blue Indy.

I am come to the point of agreement that most major cities actually no longer need City Councils or Councilors; they've ceded their power and they seem far more ceremonial than "legislative". I say let's take the money we pay Councilors and Council support staff and employ that money as a municipal resource for the emergency assistance of the homeless and truly needy.

I will no longer support a corrupt, self-serving political class whose main goal is personal power, prestige, and privilege.

This one picture of Hogshitt's day at the game says 10,000 words. I suspect the vast majority of Marion County residents could not afford a Luxury Sweet, that vast majority who pay the food and beverage tax to fund the building and maintenance of the stadium. Essentially those people who do have seats at the game do not pay the full cost of their seats, i.e., various taxes collected by the C.I.B. subsidize the real cost with Corporate Welfare.

This is the picture of AmeriKa today. Corporate Welfare and Crony Capitalism with our politicians acting out their roles as one of the boys, but who are in reality a protector and enabler of the moneyed aristocracy. I have to wonder do our elected and appointed officials that take advantage of the system actually believe they are a part of the 1%, or do they realize that for only one afternoon they are. Even so, I suppose they can lord it over their friends - I had tickets to the big game and you did not.

Flogger... BINGO. The privileged Democrat Joe Hogsett with his radiantly beaming ear to ear grin is the very poster boy for "...the picture of AmeriKa today".

So sad the general electorate hasn't the critical thinking abilities to discern the lies of the Demopublican Party politicians who enjoy all the perks and benefits of power paid for by the toil of the hard working citizenry who cannot even dream of their perks let alone have the hope of ever enjoying them.

I drove by Hogsett's house, and there is no way that anything in that neighborhood is as cheap at $225,000. This is the best area of Indianapolis, and Hogsett's house is priced like it's in Broad Ripple. There are literally houses in Broad Ripple assessed above Hogsett's Meridian Hills house.

Enough is enough. This is Tony Rezko stuff. The FBI needs to investigate Assessor O'Connor, right now. Chicago has indeed moved to Indianapolis, and Indy is utterly brazen in its corruption, because it thinks nobody is watching. With Hogsett being in charge of the local FBI and US Attorney's office, the local boys are right. Nobody is watching.

Bowles, are you serious? That's all it takes to convince you that something is legit is for other houses around the target house to get a break, too? No wonder Indy has rampant corruption. Nobody has any street smarts. Of course, you give the neighboring houses a break when you give your target a break. If you do it any other way, you draw too much heat. UniGov is a much better detective than you.

This is so bad that it should bounce Hogsett from the election, but Brewer? Indy is screwed. This scandal need to be given to the U.S. Attorney in D.C.

Hey Bowes, you should know that market value is based on sales and not surrounding assessments. If I appealed my home based on another assessment I'd get denied every time. Instead of providing us with surrounding assessments, provide us with the actual sales and listings of surrounding properties.

At the same time, I'd like to see little better than conspiracy theory speculation on the part of the author. Adjustments to neighborhood factors and market value take place every year. If a few recent sales supported the lowering of values, there is nothing to see here....but we'll never know because the author didn't investigate any further and chose the easy path of leading viewers to a biased opinion based on pure speculation.

What a phony is Democrat Jog Hogsett intentionally using in his video political advertisement a "lower class" everyday looking yard to convey he is "one of them".

Why did the Democrat not use his home in one of the most expensive, mostly old, white Indy neighborhoods that has high property values to match? There may not be a law against intentionally misleading voters but there sure is news value... this should be on every media in town. With them all pretty much having the Jim Shella reputation- do no actual journalism but instead use any provided talking points handed your way- no gonna happen. Sadly.

Sorry, anon., but it's not based on mere speculation. One, numerous news reports based on real sales data confirmed by area realtors of strong demand and higher selling prices for homes in neighborhoods like Hogsett's informs me that home values are rising not falling. The latest property tax card indicates two steady assessments followed by a dramatic one-third reduction. That doesn't fit the pattern of trending applied by the assessor's office in other neighborhoods with increasing sales prices. Thirdly, a visual depiction of the home and surrounding homes near it on Google Earth is one of an upscale neighborhood. It would be quite a bargain to find a home on a large lot in that neighborhood for that price. But here's the biggest clue. Hogsett took out a mortgage of $243,000 when he first bought the home 14 years ago in 2001. Joe is a frugal guy, and I'm betting he had some equity in that home when he bought it, even if the lender didn't require it. Residential property values rose dramatically between 2001 and 2008. Assuming he had 10% in it, he likely paid close to $270,000 for it. I grant you that the home lost value after the housing collapse late in 2008; however, the market has rebounded and home values in good neighborhoods have recovered to the point they were prior to the housing market collapse, and in many cases, are now exceeding their former values.

But does he claim as many homestead exemptions as Chicago Brewer? As an appraiser who does appraisals for tax appeals I can tell you the Assessor is so incompetent that this may not be as sinister as everyone would like. Quite a few assessments in M Hills, MK, Butler T, etc. have fallen, yet prices are unstoppable. We routinely appraise homes 20-40% higher than assessments throughout Washington Township. There is generally no rhyme or reason to the Assessors madness and these are the furthest thing from actually sticking a sign in the ground and seeing what the market will give you.

A friend, who I have no doubt is telling the truth, told me a story about when he was asked to join the masons. A friend of his who was a mason asked him to come pay his taxes with him - apparently to show him some of the benefits of membership, and my friend said ok but why. Anyway instead of going to a municipal building they went to a shriners temple and stood before a man seated at a desk. My friends friend handed the man at the desk his tax papers and paid him exactly half the tax he owed, the man at the desk stamped it paid. Perhaps there are other clubs one can get perks from, such as good old boy networks.

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